STUDIES OF NATUBE 



And yet it was not without some feeling of 

 loss that we bade good-bye to the old garden at 

 home just when summer, sadly delayed, seemed 

 to be breaking upon us. Hundreds of stately 

 foxgloves, white and red and pale pink, were in 

 full bloom on the sloping bed under the great 

 hawthorn hedge ; the creamy blossom of the 

 elder was at its best ; the first evening primroses 

 were out ; in the twilight at nine o'clock, the air 

 was warmer than we had been accustomed to 

 have it at noon, and the whole garden was filled 

 with the heavy scent of musk and rose. All 

 this was delightful enough, especially after the 

 rigours of a nine-months' winter ; but still, with 

 the advent of August, there came back the old 

 hunger for the mountains and the sea, and an 

 idea haunted me like a superstition that with 

 the first dip in the wave there would come a 

 new life to both mind and body. 



And here it is. The morning is still early, 

 but I have had my accustomed plunge, and am 



